This family contains the two most familiar members of the order Zygentoma: the silverfish (Lepisma saccharinum) and the firebrat (Thermobia domestica).

The abdomen is usually clothed in tiny scales and terminates with three "tails" of roughly equal length.

Host-species relationships include: Eoxenos laboulbenei on Tricholepisma aureum, Neoasterolepisma wasmanni and N. palmonii; Mengenilla parvula on Sceletolepisma michaelseni; Mengenilla nigritula on Ctenolepisma ciliatum and Ctenolepisma sp.

; Mengenilla laevigata, M. quasita, M. spinulosa and M. subnigrescens on C. lineatum; and an unidentified species of Strepsiptera on Mormisma peyerimhoffi.

[9] Several species of gregarine parasites have been recorded from the intestinal tract of the gray silverfish:[8]